Tiki-Ko

The high ratings for this place had me questioning the breadth of the reviewers' knowledge on the subject matter, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I visited around 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon and the place was pretty much dead, but the music was right (60s easy listening and some selections from Mondo Exotica) and the decor was consistent and well done. This is a newish place and you can see a few plain spots in the decor, but the pieces they do have are really outstanding. The bartender said that one of the tikis by the bar (with a long tongue) was actually done by a local patron and was their first tiki - it was outstanding. By the time I left a couple more groups had entered and it felt more lively.

My Mai Tai was very well done according to the 1944 Trader Vic's template and my Painkiller was equally of high quality (using Coruba rum). I even got a small sample of "King Louie" from their weekly special menu - the theme the week I went was Banana - also very good.

Sounds like the downstairs addition is still a ways off, but is a larger space that even has a separate entrance from the street. Intent according to the bartender I spoke with is to have more of a nautical theme and maybe even a different menu. Darker for sure. And it sounds great.

Tiki-Ko is a very good tiki bar well worth going out of your way for. It isn't quite up there in the pantheon, not yet. The menu is a bit small and the decor is a bit sparse. But this place is 1000% better than you'd expect it to be in a section of Bakersfield's aging downtown. Great job by the Tiki Ko team.

We had a very warm welcome (after ten minutes of wait outside, since it was too crowded) thanks to Critiki and the feature to add upcoming visits. They were expecting these 'guests from Belgium'. So: thank you Tiki-Ko, and thank you Critiki! (Ask for the off-menu, the Jet Pilot was very good!)

A young bar, with all the expected compromises, which might have a promising future. Sometimes the drinks are excellent, other times, not so much. My Zombie needed more rum and less syrup, which the bartender painted on my glass with the mint sprig. A sticky Zombie that requires you to wash your hands after consuming in two quick gulps (it wasn't remotely strong enough to require drink pacing.) is a Zombie that needs some improvement. The daily special can be great or awful depending on what they decided to mix: a more even level of bartending skills is needed. The bathrooms are exceptionally clean, which can be scary if you're more used to Hawaiian or other tiki bar standards. Decorating is strictly milquetoast. Go next door to the Woolworth's and revel in their streamlined-moderne lunch counter if you want to see how jaw-dropping a good interior can be.